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Yesterday we wrote about Chip Saltsman, the candidate for RNC chairman whose tactful Christmas gift was a CD of songs skewering liberals every which way, including one track called "Barack the Magic Negro." There is a way to give Chip Saltsman the benefit of the doubt here: The song, which was riffing off an L.A. Times article that used the term "Magic Negro," was, after all, just one of many on the CD (although some of those could be offensive too). He may not even have known it was on there. But even if his intent was pure, surely the bad press from this episode had tainted his reputation. In the aftermath of an election in which minority voters overwhelmingly supported the Democrats, Saltsman probably wouldn't be a great face for the Republican Party at this juncture. Or would he?

Apparently, the outcry is beginning to help Saltsman's candidacy, as fellow RNC members rally around him and glare menacingly at his rivals, Mike Duncan and Saul Anuzis, who publicly tut-tutted Saltsman's poor decision-making. "Those are two guys who just eliminated themselves from this race for jumping all over Chip on this," one committee member told Politico. Another RNC member reasoned that, "Chip probably could have thought it through a bit more, but he was doing everyone a favor by giving us a gift." What Saltsman seemed to understand better than his opponents is that in this economy, any gift — even an unfunny, consistently offensive parody CD — is welcomed with profound gratitude.